place. you can get my whole take on this topic, making america a more healthy place, at cnnhealth.com. go there. let me hear from you as well. got much more news now with deb feyerick in the "cnn newsroom." you are here with us in the "cnn newsroom," hello, everyone, i'm deborah feyerick. well, this weekend across several states winter came early and winter came hard. in just 24 hours temperatures went from springlike to below freezing in texas, oklahoma, arkansas, and tennessee. and we're not talking about the fluffy stuff, the sleds and snowball kind of thing, we are talking about sleet and frozen slush and high wind that is making driving incredibly dangerous and knockouts of power all over the place. central arkansas was 75 degrees earlier this week, it will not

be above freezing at all this weekend. oklahoma, all counties are under a state of emergency today, more than 7,500 homes have no electricity, and the red cross churches and community groups are opening kitchens and shelters and warming centers all across the state. memphis, tennessee, was supposed to host a marathon today. why not? it should have been in the mid-50s. our indra peterson is there, and, indra, the race is canceled. how are people coping? and how much longer is this cold snap going to last in memphis? >> reporter: you know, we wish we had better news because this cold, arctic blast is here and there's a whole nother punch expected overnight tonight with another round of freezing rain. we had the marathon canceled, 20,000 people were expected to be here today for that marathon and some people decided to make the trek anyways. just take a listen what it felt like trying to drive into the city. >> we had an exciting ride down. took us nine hours, which is normally a four- to five-hour trip. window wipers icing up.

lines down over the highway on 55. it was closed for a time. and winter everything from ice to snow. it was a -- it was a journey. >> reporter: so, just for that reason you can tell that right when people were trying to drive in or drive out is the second wave of the ice storm is expected tonight, would have been very dangerous and the exact reason they did have to cancel the marathon. on the other side of it are these freezing temperatures that we're talking about. with the windchill this morning it was in the single digits, as we start to cool off again tonight, we'll get another round of freezing rain that will be a concern. and many people without power, yesterday about 5,000, and today it's 500 people, but with another round overnight tonight there's a potential for even more people to lose power and many people saw half an inch of freezing rain in west memphis that's what they saw and north of us in arkansas, over an inch of ice has been seen on the power lines so the threat of even more ice expected overnight tonight, it's the last thing people want with these cold

temperatures expected to last at here for at least a week. >> the couple you interviewed, i'm not sure i would have kept going. the downed power lines are really dangerous, plus the ice makes them so heavy. what was the statistic you quoted earlier? >> reporter: what we were talking about earlier, half an inch of ice on the power line that weighs 500 pounds so that's the concern. it really doesn't take that much and the entire city can shut down sometimes for weeks. >> yeah, beautiful but deadly. okay, thanks, indra, appreciate that. >> reporter: sure. the line of bitter cold of ice and sleet is headed to the eastern seaboard, those in new york city and boston, you better get ready. alexandra steele is in the cnn weather center with the where and the when. what can we expect >> hi, good evening to you. this ice show, it's tomorrow, but it's a little bit different than what we saw yesterday. it is farther east and on the upside, temperatures will be a lot warmer the next day, the day after our ice storm, which is

monday, they'll be in the 40s, so we're not going to see that ice sit. we are going to see it melt. here's the timeline. tomorrow by 11:00 you can see beginning to make its way toward the mid-atlantic, in washington. snow gets there by noon, and then it moves farther north in toward new york and certainly long island by sunday night and by monday it all moves toward new england. but the balance of the east gets into the 40s, so that certainly is better news in terms of how much ice and how long that ice lasts. so, here's the timeline for places like washington, they do have a winter storm watch posted for tomorrow. in the morning by 11:00 or 12:00, it will start as snow and sleet and then in the afternoon like we're going to see a lot of the places, it will change over to freezing rain and sleet, so on the whole maybe 1 to 2 inches of snow and potentially a quarter of an inch of ice coming, difficult driving for the day especially tomorrow afternoon in washington and tomorrow night. in philadelphia, it will begin in the afternoon. we'll see it start as snow and sleet, and then again during the nighttime, we're going to see it change over to rain. on the whole maybe an inch of

snow and sleet combination, and then in toward new york city. it's really a late sunday night affair, potentially starting as snow, changing over to sleet and then changing over to rain. maybe up to an inch of snow and sleet. so, here's the good news, though, this is the monday time frame temperature. 47 in new york. 43 in washington, and 43 as well. so, deb, we are going to see some ice mixing with snow, but then we're not going to see it last certainly as long as we've seen it from dallas to memphis with the last ice storm. >> all right, so a little bit of relief there come monday. all right, alexandra steele for us, thank you so much. >> sure, yeah. well, more than 200,000 people are without power in the de dallas, texas, area, and that's where we find cnn's ed lavandera. ed, how are people coping? they were expecting this. >> reporter: the good news today we haven't seen freezing rain or sleet falling here in clyde warren park in downtown dallas or across any parts of north texas, but the problem is temperatures haven't gotten above freezing. so, thick layers of ice like

this are everywhere. it's a nightmare of ice, sleet, and wicked cold. this winter storm has inspired the most haunting descriptions, north texas ghost towns left entombed in ice. trees encased by freezing rain are buckling under the sheer weight of the ice, bringing down power lines and leaving more than 250,000 homes without power across dallas-ft. worth. crews are trying to salvage the lines that are still working and the roadways are a hazardous mess. >> go slowly. watch out for the person in front of you and make sure that you are ready for the road conditions ahead of you. >> reporter: there have been hundreds of accidents across the region. cars slipping and sliding off roadways. four people in texas, oklahoma, and new mexico were killed in weather-related crashes. a man died saturday when his truck slid off interstate 35 and plunged into a lake.

firefighters dove into the frigid waters to rescue him but couldn't get him out in time. on this lake north of dallas, the ice crushed this marina crashing the roof onto boats floating underneath and the winter storm has canceled more than 2,000 flights across the region, including about 50% of the flights scheduled to depart dfw airport on saturday. just two days ago this same area was basking in the glow of 80-degree weather. but it all dispeerappeared in a matter of hours, after the sun went down, the polar express arctic blast swooping in leaving behind layers of ice and unkring sounds of slush. so, right about now you probably wish you could escape the frigid temperatures by jumping into that "back to the future delorean" taking a trip back in time. you actually don't need to go back too far, just a few hours, 3:52 on a wednesday afternoon in downtown dallas. a beautiful day for a walk in the park, sunglasses on, not a cloud in the sky.

ed lavandera from the past is here to tell you that everything will be okay. you will be warm once again in the future. i hope. most schools and businesses shut down on friday. the dallas marathon and holiday parade were also canceled, the first time those events have been called off. but still quite a few ventured outside. >> whoa. >> reporter: better to slip and slide on a hillside than on the highway. it will take several days for temperatures to rebound and for the ice to melt away. and this is the frustrating thing for residents here in north texas and oklahoma and arkansas is that it will take some time for these temperatures to get above freezing so that the ice can melt away. we're being told that forecasters are saying that perhaps it could be late sunday, maybe even into monday before the temperatures get above freezing again. debor deborah? >> all right, ed lavandera, we like the one from the past, thanks, eddie. well, coming up next --

>> reporter: i'm dan simon in palo alto, california, the yellow ribbons are up after 85-year-old merrill newman was released by the north korean government. we'll have that story coming up. and now my journey across the country has brought me to the lovely city of boston. cheers. and seeing as it's such a historic city, i'm sure they'll appreciate that geico's been saving people money for over 75 years. oh... dear, i've dropped my tea into the boston harbor. huhh... i guess this party's over. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. i'm here to say a few words about the power of baking stuff with nestle toll house morsels. you can heal a broken heart with a bundt cake. make a monday mornin' feel like a friday afternoon with some nestle toll house morsels. let's close our laptops and open our ovens. these things don't bake themselves. we have to bake them for one another.

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well, a nightmarish ordeal is now over for an 85-year-old american war veteran and his family. after six weeks in captivity north korea abruptly released merrill newman overnight. newman arrived at san francisco international airport just a few hours ago, and he said he was tired and happy to be home, but he didn't answer any questions about those six weeks in captivity. dan simon joins us live outside newman's home in palo alto, and newman is not expected home any time soon, it seems he's gone elsewhere, at least for the time being. >> reporter: apparently so, debor deborah, but there are yellow ribbons in front of the entrance, the retirement home where he lives.

it was a great homecoming and looking healthy, and seemed to be in good spirits after spending six weeks in custody in north korea. to put this in context an 85-year-old man with a heart condition and his friends and family were terribly concerned about him. apparently they were able to get medication to him, but this is what newman had to say after arriving at the san francisco international airport. >> good morning. delighted to be home. i want to thank the swedish embassy in pyongyang and the american embassy in beijing for all their help. it's been a great, great homecoming. and i'm tired, but ready to be with my family now. and thank you all for the support we got, and very much appreciated. >> reporter: and that was it. newman did not take any questions. we don't know, you know, how he was treated by the north korean authorities. the bottom line, though, is he is home, and he is safe.

but still many questions remain. and obviously we want to know, what ultimately led to his release. we know that, of course, washington does not have formal relations with the north korean government, but apparently in this case there were some direct talks between the two countries, deborah? >> and, dan, do we know the purpose of his visit and why he was actually held? >> reporter: yeah, that's a great question. you know, he served in the korean war. he was an intelligence officer and was involved in some top secret missions. he was a tourist, though, just like anybody else who wants to go to north korea. apparently thousands of westerners go to north korea each year. he had some unfinished business there, if you will, given the fact that he served there during the korean war. he wanted to go back. was a tourist there for ten days and apparently said the wrong thing to someone, and that's why he was taken into custody. deborah? >> all right, dan simon, thanks so much. what we saw just then was mr. newman reading an apology statement that was clearly

written for him. thank you very much. president obama defended his six-month nuclear deal with iran when he spoke at a d.c. forum. it requires iran to apparently cap nuclear activities in exchange for slightly relaxed sanctions. the president suggests his critics are being very unrealistic if they believe that iran would suddenly give up all nuclear capabilities forever. >> one can envision an ideal world in which iran said we'll destroy every element and facility and you name it, it's all gone. i can envision a world in which congress passed every one of my bills that i put forward. i mean, there are a lot of things that i can envision that would be wonderful. >> well, the forum's being held by the brookings institution which is a washington think tank. well, defense secretary

chuck hagel is visiting u.s. troops today. during a surprise trip to afghanistan. he also met with afghan officials to discuss a security agreement which would allow some of the nato-led troops to stay in the country past 2014. the pact still hasn't been signed by afghan president hamid karzai, but hagel said that his afghan counterpart assured him the agreement would be reached in, quote, a timely manner. well, the white house once said that president obama didn't know one of his uncles. turns out, he actually lived with him. briefly. is this a big deal? we'll tell you. that story next. we're aig. and we're here. to help secure retirements and protect financial futures. to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global.

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well, the white house has backed away from a reported statement made two years ago that president obama had never met an uncle who lives near boston. well, it turns out that the president not only knew him, he once lived with him. why so much confusion? cnn's brian todd has more. >> reporter: he's a 69-year-old man who works at a liquor store near boston and he's now caught up in the president's latest political migraine. the man's name, onyango obama, also called omar, the president's uncle. "the boston globe" previously cited the white house as saying the president and hess uncle had never met, but the white house press secretary now says this -- >> the president said that he, in fact, had met omar obama when he moved to cambridge for law

school and that he stayed with him for a brief period of time until his -- the president's apartment was ready. >> reporter: in recent days the uncle said that barack obama stayed with him for three weeks in the 1980s. why the differing accounts? >> back when this arose, folks looked at the record, including the president's book, and there was no evidence that they had met. >> reporter: jay carney says it was when he asked the president in person that the president acknowledged he'd stayed with his uncle. it could be simple semantics, but the white house was first asked about the relationship a couple of years ago. after the uncle had been arrested for drunk driving and it came to light that he was fighting deportation. that's given ammunition to republican critics. critics of the white house says this speaks to a deeper credibility problem of the president and his staff not being forthcoming even on matters that wouldn't at the outset being politically damaging. >> so, really, it was such an unforced error and it just goes back to this thing of the white house not being completely

forthright with facts with the public. it's what's contributed to his trustworthiness numbers going way down. >> reporter: and political observers say something else could be lingering. >> i think it definitely does raise an interesting question about whether or not the white house is comfortable with this idea that he has relatives that had trouble with dui or immigration problems or whatever else, but there's so many politicians that have had similar relatives with similar issues. >> reporter: a white house official pushed back on the idea that he wasn't comfortable with those members of his family, pointing out that he wrote extensively about them in his book "dreams from my father." first the white house said that the president didn't know his uncle, now we learn that mr. obama not only knew him but he lived with him. the question is, is this a big deal? we're talking about it right now to break it down a historian at princeton and david gergen who joins us from atlanta, he is a cnn senior political analyst and a former white house adviser to

four presidents. gentlemen, thank you for being here. david, let's start with you. you know what it's like to work at a white house and deal with media questions especially on sensitive issues, how, however, does a white house put out false information like it did on the president's relationship to an uncle? >> well, let me say for beginners, i don't think this is a big deal. i think it's a modest deal. i think it reflerkts a sloppiness within the white house operation. but we've had other presidents who have had relatives who have rather inconvenient histories, let us say, and there's always been a fairly strong effort by the white house staff to distance the president from that inconvenient relative if possible. that seems to what has gone on here. what is odd is that the president must have known his team was putting out the word that he didn't know this fellow. and never met him. and it's odd that he didn't correct the record then. >> yeah. and let me ask you, professor,

do you get the feeling here that obama aides simply didn't want to dig too hard that they didn't want it getting out that the president has an uncle here that was illegal? he had the same problem with an aunt just a couple years ago. she, too, was here without proper papers. >> it could be they wanted to protect him, and it could be they didn't want this story to suddenly be connected to the president, but i think rather than a case of deception, i do think this is a case of sloppiness. this is a theme we've heard both with health care and this that causes problems for the president when it probably doesn't have to cause a problem, and i think that's why this is blowing up in a week where this was not supposed to be the story. >> it's interesting, because you hear, you know, anna saying that this was an unforced error, but it really does affect ultimately the numbers in terms of people regarding him as truthful or not truthful. i want to turn to obama care, we heard the president say more than once that he wasn't told the health care website was in such bad shape, now politico magazine reports that an outfit called the government accountability institute finds the president and hhs secretary

kathleen sebelius held just a single one-on-one meeting after obama care was signed into law over three years ago. we should note that the white house is taking issue with this article. jay carney saying that the report's misleading and based on a ridiculously false premise, those are his words. david gergen, what do you think about this? >> i think this is a bigger deal, and i don't think this is simply sloppiness on the part of the white house. i disagree with the professor. what seems to me is there's a case of near malfeasance here. at the same time three years pass with no one-on-one meetings according to this politico article. the president had 277 one-on-one meetings with other members of his cabinet, hillary clinton having the largest number, but secretary geithner had some 27 meetings. i know the economy is essential, and it's good he was meeting with secretary geithner, but here on his signature issue not to take charge. and i have no doubt the white

house is right, that secretary sebelius was in several group meetings with the president about health care, but the whole point is, there was nobody in charge in the administration. the president was turning to and saying i look to you for overall responsibility, and in this case it should have been the secretary of health and human services. she does run the department that oversees this. and the fact that he was not meeting with her one-on-one, i think, frankly, is not so much an indictment of her but of the white house operation. >> which is fascinating because we saw her testify very publicly, she took full responsibility for what had happened, but at the same time if this was so important to the president, you would think that there was a lot more one-on-one interaction especially on something that's so critical to him and his policy. professor, the president went on msnbc this week, he was asked about his management of the white house and his cabinet and he said that, quote, generally speaking my theory has been, number one, that, yes, i've got a strong chief of staff but i'm holding every cabinet member

accountable and i want to have strong interactions with them directly. number two, i have an open door policy, he said, where i want people to be bringing me bad news on time so that we can fix things. well, putting all that aside, how often kathleen sebelius did or did not meet with the president, what does that suggest especially because she's now the one who's taking the heat, taking the fire and ultimately taking the responsibility? >> well, on that story we have to be careful because as the white house said, that does come from a conservative organization and individual published that account and they're disputing it, so we need to see the reality of the one-on-one before we make the judgment. that said, there is no doubting that the rollout of the health care was not properly executed and we now have more than enough stories that the president and his team were, in fact, aware, they were meeting, and aware of the problems that were emerging, so that is a more serious story. and identify think implementation matters. there's one person who said ideas are 1% of politics and

implementation is 99%, and they dropped the ball on that. >> absolutely. well, david gergen, is this bad management? is this bad staffing? is this bad messaging? >> well, i'm sure the white house now in retrospect probably thinks it's a combination of the above. but i was surprised this week when the president told chris matthews in an interview that he really didn't think he had to reflect upon his management style, everything was fine in the white house. the real problem was inside -- was the fact that we have such large agencies in government that are big bureaucracies, it's hard to get things done. well, first of all, he's in charge as president. he is the chief executive. he's had five years to address that issue if that's what he really thinks. and, secondly, if he really think a bureaucracy is incapable of handling problems like this, why did he assign the health care issue to them? so, you know, i think this is a pretty serious issue. i do think it's important. i think this president has many good assets. i think there are many good things about him. but the management by this white

house team does have left i think especially in recent times left much to be desired. >> and professor, final word on this, do you see this as a leadership issue? >> well, yes, it could be a defining part of his presidency. jimmy carter is remembered for bad management and that could happen to him. the good news, there's still a lot of time in his presidency, and this is an era where you can remake yourself. so, if they fix this health care program and it's up and running, i don't think this is what we're going to be talking about. if he doesn't, this could be one of the issues we think about when we think about president obama. >> all right, professor, and david gergen, thank you, gentlemen, so much for being with us here today. >> thank you. well, where throngs of people have gathered outside the home of nelson mandela all day today. we'll be going to johannesburg, dignitaries are headed to south africa to remember the leader. president obama will have additional vips with him on air force one. 1ñp

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well, plans for a final good-bye for nelson mandela are beginning to come into focus. ♪ crowds gathered outside mandela's home in johannesburg today, celebrating and remembering the 95-year-old former president who died on thursday. in the days ahead a parade of world leaders will travel to south africa to pay their respects. former president george w. bush will fly with president obama to tuesday's memorial. former president bill clinton, he will also attend. cnn's robyn kurnow is live in johannesburg, it won't be easy for all of these dignitaries to get to the final resting place. >> reporter: absolutely. and it's also quite a packed schedule, what we're going to

see is a day of remembrance, tomorrow, sunday, then tuesday there's a memorial service at a soccer stadium here outside johannesburg, the place where there was a world cup final a few years ago. that's where we are expecting to see most of the heads of state gather to pay their respects. then on wednesday, thursday, and friday nelson mandela is going to lie in state at the union buildings, the same place where he took office as the first black president of south africa in 1994. then saturday he's going to be flown to his hometown, home area in the eastern cape, and sunday he will be buried after a funeral in the hills under a tent in his -- in his home -- in his hometown, so that's going to be a very remote, rural family affair. and tuesday it's going to be more of a public affair. >> and besides the current and former u.s. presidents, a lot of other world leaders expecting to attend. who are they?

>> reporter: well, like i said, on tuesday basically heads of state and royalty are being encouraged to come to the tuesday event, because the logistical nightmare of getting these vips to this remote area of the eastern cape on sunday, even for the south african authorities, they say it's just too difficult. so, what we are going to see is a large amount of world leaders. we don't know the number because according to traditions here in south africa, talking about someone's death, organizing someone's death before they've gone is rude, is, again, sort of tradition, so essentially the south african authorities have only really today briefed the embassies on what to expect and what, you know, will be laid out. so, when i spoke to authorities here just a few hours ago, they said they were still waiting to hear back from many of these embassies whether or not their heads of state would be coming on tuesday. so, still no real number on who's coming and when. >> so, not exactly denying the

inevitable, just delaying the j logistical planning of it. robyn kurnow, doing yeoman's work in the early morning hours of south africa, thank you very much. for more on mandela's charitable legacy and how you can get involved go to cnn.com/impact. well, take a look, little rock, arkansas, under a severe weather emergency right now. several inches of snow fell onto a layer of sleet and frozen slush, making driving incredibly dangerous. it also looks just like this across central texas and most of oklahoma. a line of winter storms is stretching from memphis to the great lakes this evening bringing temperatures 10 to 35 degrees lower than the average. and the weather has paralyzed many parts of the country, but not, of course,

cyberspace, because people are inside and warm. people have been posting pictures of the nasty weather on their social media sites and sending them to us here at cnn. rosa florez has been collecting all of them. what are you seeing? >> you said it well, people are staying inside, so a lot of time snapping photos and submitting them to social media. but it is treacherous out there, one i-reporter submitted this photograph, overturned vehicles like this one in illinois have been a common occurrence in the states getting pounded by ice and snow. i-reporter jason aselen snapped this picture in michigan and also took some video that helps tell the story for him. he says that they're worried, they've been dealing with this for days. normally they see heavy snow first before the temperatures actually drop very low, which means water pipes have snow insulation he called it, but this time they saw about 6 inches of snow, then it rained which created a layer of ice and quite the mess he says. they're afraid that those water

pipes will burst, and, of course, he said kids are forced to stay inside. no playing outside for those kiddos. in areas of texas the chilling temperatures and ice not only snapped trees, but power lines. more than 200,000 people there were without power. this photograph was sent in by i-reporter earl wallace. and i have been getting messages on facebook as well. betsy rivera from round rock at 2:00 p.m. said 28 degrees and, again, saying that they are staying inside, not going outside. send me your pictures on twitter and i'll try to share those as well. >> it's amazing when you see the tree and the splitting, the ice becomes so heavy it just weighs it down, the trees and the power line. >> everything. >> that's why people have to stay indoors because it becomes so lethal. appreciate it, rosa. the new job report should offer a little hope for anyone who is looking for work. we'll break it down and tell you who might be finally bringing

home a paycheck coming up next.

so, what do you get when you take investors who are looking for good news and add a good jobs report? you get a 200-point jum p in th dow but it's nothing compared to how happy people are when they actually get the jobs. cnn's alexandra field looks at who is getting hired. >> deb, young people in particular are reaping the benefits of the better job numbers. since the recession young people have struggled to find and keep jobs in the last month. we're seeing more of them collecting paychecks. >> it's a big relief actually getting a paycheck instead of working for minimum wage. i can actually do stuff now. >> reporter: jeff delorenzo graduated from rutgers university with a degree in engineering. he was underemployed for a year serving coffee before he found full-time work in his field at flex line, a linden, new jersey, manufacturer. >> we feged there was a great potential there and an

engineering degree and we'd grab him. >> reporter: young people like delorenzo and the recently unemployed are reaping the benefits of an economy adding jobs. the latest jobs report puts the national unemployment rate at a five-year low of 7%. 203,000 jobs were created in november and more of them are in higher-paying sectors. >> we saw, you know, the predictable retail jobs and leisure and hospitality and bars and restaurants because of the holidays but we also saw things like manufacturing, we saw things like business and professional services, again, tend to pay a little bit more money. so, these were broad-based job gains this month and that's important. >> reporter: the november jobs report was better than expected. for the third year in a row more than 2 million jobs have been created. still, that's not enough to make up for the 9 million jobs lost between 2008 and 2009. did you think it was going to be difficult to find a job? >> to be completely honest, no. i thought i was going to be handed a job. i thought people were going to be asking me to have a job. >> reporter: in the last year

unemployment dropped nearly a full percentage point, but 11 people are searching for jobs and the long-term unemployed are struggling the most. in some places people are fighting for work. last month walmart opened two stores in washington, d.c., there were 600 job openings and 23,000 job applicants. >> if you look at it as a rate that means less than 3% would get hired. harvard has a higher rate. >> reporter: the economy may not have caught up. in a recent cnn/orc poll only a quarter of the people polled believed the economy was getting better. deb? >> good news, but certainly reason to be cautious. alexandra field, thank you. well, could your job one day be filled by a traveling robot? several big companies are right now working on their robot armies. one of them may even pull up to your house one day in a car that needs no driver. what is tech's next big thing? that is just ahead. [ male announcer ] this store knows how to handle a saturday crowd.

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so, if you dream of traveling through space but can't exactly afford a ticket, this could be the next best thing. a space training center is taking would-be astronauts on the ride of their life in this "technovations." our brooke baldwin reports. >> reporter: tourists could blast off into space as early as next year on virgin galactic spaceshiptwo. until then future astronauts can train for the rigors of space on earth. >> it's the real deal. we're training them just as we would a military pilot, a fighter pilot or an astronaut. >> reporter: more than 300

peopleve take e vve have taken . the program centers around a state of the art simulator a human centrifuge that replicates what space travel feels like. >> sequence starts in three, two, one. >> oh, hoo hoo hoo! >> you're going to see your g-meter and your altim hitter and your rear camera views and the visuals outside the spacecraft as you actually feel the forces of launching off and a simulated weightlessness and entry back down to earth. >> reporter: the faster it spins the more you feel the forces of gravity. >> for extreme g-forces for prolonged "gs" there's a good risk of you being able to pass out, for those reasons want to make sure you are trained properly. >> congratulations you're in space. >> reporter:u don't need a ticket in space to take this course but it will cost you $3,000. >> the future of space holds a lot of promise. hopefully hundreds, thousands of people will be traveling for various missions across the galaxy.

>> now, that looks very cool. this past week we got a peek into the future. a line of self-driving cars has come to fruition. google is working on robots that may put some of us out to work and look at how amazon wants to get stuff to your door. >> we're talking about delivery here? >> we're talking about delivery. there's an item going into the vehicle. i know this looks like science fiction. it's not. >> wow. >> this is early. this is still years away. drops the package. >> so what's the next big thing? the only person who can answer those kinds of questions is our

lor lorie siegel. >> i think right now we're hearing a lot about personalization technology. almost siri-like apps. they almost anticipate what you want, which is pretty interesting. we spoke last week about a technology where you walk into the store, your phone knows your purchasing history and it will give you a push notification and say, hey, you might want to check this out. that kind of stuff is in the works. tech is moving so far beyond the smartphone. it's not just the hot new apps. we're talking robots and drones. it's an interesting time for technology. >> i think we've done stories on auto plants that have replaced workers with robots. now you see drones, having drones with the ability to deliver packages.

behind the steak and shake, when does all of this take place? >> these are all great ideas. look at amazon drones. the faa has to make regulations and that's not happening for at least 2015. think about irobot. these are being developed but google is very serious about this. they brought andy reuben in, the guy who was behind android, they've acquired seven startups that are all robotics focused and they're trying to do a push for this. volvo has made this announcement they're going to have self-driving cars on the road by 2017. a lot of times we've just been talking about these big ideas. now we're seeing them come to fruition, which is pretty exciting. >> the younger generation probably has a lot more of a stomach for letting technology take control. we used to use our phone to call people. now it's our watch, our camera, even a tv.

it's not the end of it, though. >> everybody's trying to figure out a way to utilize the smartphone. mazda just teamed up with cyneplex, and they're doing a movie theater race game. this is creative marketing but it's the kind of thing we're going to see in the future because people are realizing how disruptive your smartphone is. we're going to see smartapps and the technology moving far beyond. >> i was speaking to somebody who does technology also and he says this is everything. for people, this has become everything. this is how you live, this is how you think, this is how you interact with whatever is out there. so it really a huge kind of transition. laurie segall, thank you so much. god, i wish i invested in

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the 2010 cnn hero continues to help veterans struggling to build new lives. his homeless presentation will air tomorrow night at 8:00 eastern. take a look. >> one of the biggest difficulties is transitioning from military life to civilian life. >> i can't change what happened. if i could, i would. i'm 24. i want to be able to live by myself. >> i built custom home for 30 years. back in 2005 i did my first remodel for a wounded veteran. god put a passion in my heart to help these families.

>> this apartment that i live in, it not set up for my needs. the doors aren't as wide as it should be. the bathroom isn't as wide as it should be. some of the shelves are too high. >> these men and women need a lot of hope. i don't know how to help in a lot of those areas. but do i know how to build a home. >> it bugs me when i go to sleep, what's next is the big question. to me what's next is building a house, going to school and finding a career. everything is kind of on homemade now until i get a place that is fine. join us tomorrow night at 8 cla8:00 eastern. and catch cnn "heros" an all

star tribute at 9:00 p.m. eastern. hello, everyone. you are in the cnn newsroom here with us. u.s. intelligence officials will likely have a lot of questions for an 85-year-old american war veteran who was held captive in north korea. right now merrill newman is enjoying his freedom after his ordeal. he said he was tired but said he otherwise felt good. he was abruptly released without any official explanation, but a week ago north korea did release a video of newman reading what appeared to be a confession to war crimes. >> what more are we learning, dan? >> i can tell you, deborah, when he arrived, he was asked by reporters if he'd ever want to return to north korea and not